New Vaccination Strategy Improves Flu Protection in Cancer Patients

A new vaccine strategy has been developed to protect high-risk cancer patients from catching influenza, according to a new study.

Previous research has shown that the standard yearly flu vaccination does not offer adequate protection in patients with multiple myeloma and other plasma cell disorders.

For this reason, researchers from Yale Cancer Center developed a strategy consisting of a preliminary high-dose flu vaccine followed by a high-dose booster shot 1 month later. Patients were eligible for the study so long as they had a plasma cell disorder and no contraindication to trivalent inactive influenza vaccines.
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Overall, only 4% of the 51 patients developed influenza, and of the 30 participants with multiple myeloma, protection against the 3 flu strains present in the vaccine was present in 33% compared to 7% at baseline.

Most notably, the rate of influenza infection was only 4% compared to an expected 20%.

“These results suggest that this novel vaccination strategy is safe and may have a clinical benefit in improving hemaglutination antibody inhibition seroprotection and reducing documented flu infections in plasma cell disorders patients,” Researchers concluded.

“Given these encouraging clinical results, we are planning a randomized trial for the upcoming 2015-2016 influenza season comparing this novel vaccination strategy to standard of care vaccination in patients with plasma cell disorders.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Branagan AR, Duffy E, Boddupall CS, et al. Fluzone® high-dose influenza vaccine with a booster is associated with low rates of influenza infection in patients with plasma cell disorders. Paper presented at: 57^th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology. December 6, 2015. Orlando, Florida.